Method and apparatus for needle selection in reciprocatory knitting



3,367,145 ECTION R. PEEL ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NEEDLE 5m Feb. 6, 1968 IN RECIPROCATORY KNITTING 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 14, 1965 m wdm O N mm m mf m 0 R. PEEL ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NEEDLE SELECTION Feb. 6; 1968 IN RECIPROCATORY KNITTING 5 Sheets-$heet 2 Filed Jan. 14, 1965 INVENTORAS. 170501 1%! & Wamzrfi/wke/T 2, 661146;!

Feb. 6, 1968 R. PEEL E AL 3,367,145

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NEEDLE SELECTION IN RECIPROCATORY KNITTING Filed Jan. 14, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 a2 0) f 54 .90 v 10?] ll 1/] 4 0 1/] jf i w r 43 FIG. .5- I V: 83 .50

114 l: 8 f0 17/ o 5] 0 1/4 73 2y GEAR ATTORNEYJ.

Feb. 6, 1968 R. PEEL ET AL 3,367,145

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NEEDLE SELECTION IN RECIPROCATORY KNITTING Filed Jan. 14, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 1 N VEN TORS @JEFJ Feb. 6, 1968 R. PEEL ET AL ,36

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NEEDLE SELECTION IN RECIPROCATORY KNITTING Filed Jan. 14, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 A TTOHNEYS- United States 3,367,145 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NEEDLE SELEC- TION IN RECIPROCATORY KNITTING Robert Peel and Thomas Blaine Reavis, Winston-Salem, N.., assignors to Hanes Corporation, a corporation of North Carolina Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 345,991, Feb. 19, 1964. This application Jan. 14, 1965, Ser. No. 426,479

4 Claims. (Cl. 6648) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Knitting run resistant fabric on a circular knitting machine during reciprocatory knitting utilizing auxiliary needle selection means operative for selecting needles during alternate strokes of the needle cylinder, and having means for forming larger stitches during the intervening strokes of the cylinder than those formed during the alternate strokes thereof.

This invention relates to needle selection during reciprocatory knitting on a circular knitting machine, whereby various types of fabrics may be made in those portions of a fabric which are knit during reciprocation of the needle cylinder.

This application comprises a continuation-in-part of our now abandoned patent application Ser. No. 345,991 for Method and Apparatus for Needle Selection in Reciprocatory Knitting, filed Feb. 19, 1964.

In greater detail, this invention concerns itself with the production of fabric, such as in a seamless stocking, which may incorporate tuck loops and/or floats as well as plain loops in a selected area, such as the toe or heel, wherein the knitting of any two consecutive courses with yarn from a single knitting station is accomplished by the reciprocatory passing of needles under two stitch camsa forward direction cam for the conventional counter-clockwise direction of needle rotation, and a reverse direction cam for the clockwise direction of needle rotation.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for selecting certain of the active needles during reciprocatory knitting and to control the action of these needles so as to form various types of yarn loops in the fabric.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for knitting various types of runresistant fabrics in the reciprocaton'ly knit portions of circular knitwear, such as, for example, in the heel and toe pockets of seamless hosiery.

It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus for accomplishing the above objectives which can be operatively mounted on a standard circular knitting machine without requiring standard machine parts to be re-designed or re-positioned, and without limiting needle selection during knitting of the remainder of the fabric.

It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus and method for allowing the introduction of a reinforcing or auxiliary yarn to selected needles during reciprocatory knitting, for example to form a run-resistant band in the beginning and/or end of the heel fabric, or throughout the entire reciprocatedly knitted fabric, thereby eliminating the need to cut the floats of the additional yarn by hand or by automatic means as would be neces- Patent Otiice 3,367,145 Patented Feb. 6, 1968 sary if an auxiliary yarn were fed to partial courses during rotary knitting.

These and other objects and attendant advantages will become more apparent from the description set forth hereinbelow and from the attached drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a development of the knitting cams, needles and lifting jacks of a circular knitting hosiery machine embodying the invention, the development being viewed looking outwardly from the axis of the needle cylinder during clockwise rotation of the cylinder;

FIGURE 2 is a development similar to that of FIG- URE 1 during counter-clockwise rotation of the needle cylinder;

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the needle selecting apparatus;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary exploded view in perspective of the jack push-out cam and jack selector cams;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary, schematic view in perspective showing means for automatically retracting a stitch cam from, or advancing the same to, the needle cylinder;

FIGURES 6 and 7 are fragmentary developments showing a modification of FIGURES 1 and 2, respectively;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary development showing a second modification of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary, schematic view in perspective showing means for automatically lowering or raising one of the stitch cams.

The apparatus and method of this invention is shown and described hereinbelow in connection with a standard Scott and Williams KN, single feed circular knitting machine having a complement of 400 needles. However, this invention is equally adaptable to other types of circular knitting machines. The invention is described in connection with the manufacture of ladies hosiery, although the invention can find application in reciprocatory knitting of any fabric, for example, mens pattern socks. For the purpose of simplicity of description, the drawings show only a single yarn feeding station and single feeding finger, and the needle selecting apparatus shown herein is designed to provide needle selection during movement of the cylinder in one direction only. However, as will become clear, this invention is adaptable to a knitting machine having more than one feeding station, using one or more feeding fingers, and to the selection of needles while the cylinder moves in either or both directions, to produce fabrics having various loop formations and patterns in all or selected courses.

To the right of FIGURE 1 is shown a standard latch needle N having a butt '10 and a standard sinker S. Associated with needle N and shown therebelow is an intermediate jack =12 and a pattern jack 14 having a top curved portion 16, a plurality of selector butts 17 and a bottom butt or tail 18.

In FIGURES 1 and 2, the needles and their associated jacks are represented schematically by vertical lines moving up and down about fixed cams while the needle cylinder (not shown) rotates first in one direction for a portion of one revolution and then in the other direction. The inactive needles 20 are shown raised above the knitting level by well known means and only the remaining active needles 22 knit fabric during reciprocation of the needle cylinder. Pickers can be used to increase and decrease the number of active needles during reciprocation. In knitting a stocking, the active needles knit a plurality of courses to form the heel or toe pocket by reciprocating the cylinder while the inactive needles hold stitches of the last complete course on their shanks.

In the embodiment shown, the knitting cams comprise a forward stroke stitch cam 30, its landing cam 39, a top center cam 32, a reverse stroke stitch cam 34, a lower center cam 36 and forward and reverse stroke raising cams 38 and 40. The cams shown, as well as other standard knitting machine parts described herein, can be varied without affecting this invention. The broken line 42, located above the top center cam 32, represents the ledges of the sinkers S over which the yarn loops are drawn.

A jack lifting cam 44, which serves as a needle clearing cam, is shown located below and to the right of stitch cam 34 and, in effect, following cam 34 when the cylinder and needles move clockwise during the reverse stroke and leading cam 34 during the forward stroke, when the needles move counter-clockwise. To the right of cam 44 is the main needle selection means comprising a jack push out cam 45 and an associated set of selector fingers generally indicated as 46. Cam 45 and fingers 46 are standard equipment with the Scott & Williams Model KN Machine and are operative during rotary knitting. As used herein, the earns 44, 45 and fingers 46 are sometimes comprehensively referred to as the primary jack selector means. A jack lowering cam 46, operating on the butts of the intermediate jacks 12, is located substantially above raising cam 44 to lower the jacks 12 and 14. The ends of four jack selecting fingers or selectors 4851 are shown located adjacent cam 44 to the left thereof in FIGS. 1 and 2; active finger 50 being shown in full lines in FIGURE 1 while the inactive fingers are shown in broken lines. The ends of the fingers are adapted to contact selected butts 17 on the pattern jacks 14 in a well known manner. A jack push-out cam or finger 54 is positioned between stitch cam 34 and the selecting fingers 48-51 at a level to contact the outwardly or radially curved top portion 16 of each pattern jack as the cylinder rotates or turns in the reverse direction. The mechanism for operating selectors 48-51 and cam 54 during turns of the cylinder in the reverse direction during reciprocatory knitting is described below.

The reverse stroke needle selecting apparatus, which includes the jack push-out cam 54, the selecting fingers 48-51 and the lifting cam 44, is arranged as shown in FIGURE 1 to cause every fourth needle jack 14a, during the reverse stroke, to miss lifting cam 44 while three consecutive needle jacks 14b are raised by clear cam 44, thereby raising their respective needles N to clearing level, designated as level A. Every fourth needle 1 remains at tuck level, designated as level B, because its corresponding jack by-passed cam 44. Thus, needles N" continue to hold the previously formed loops on their latches. It should be understood that the selection of every fourth needle to tuck on every reverse stroke is but one example of the capability of the selecting apparatus, and that by selecting needles on one or both strokes of the cylinder any combination of tuck, plain or float stitches can be produced in the reciprocated portion of the stocking.

Operation of a preferred form of the needle selecting apparatus during reciprocatory knitting of a fabric is described as follows:

The first complete course of knitting the reciprocatory portion of the fabric, such as a toe or heel pocket, is made on the reverse stroke of the needle cylinder, when the cylinder moves in a clockwise direction as indicated in FIGURE 1 by the arrow. At this point, the inactive needles 20 have been removed from action. As illustrated, upon movement of the cylinder clockwise all of the active needles 22 are first raised to clear level A by stitch cam 30 and then are lowered slightly by the top center cam 32. The needles 22 then are lowered by the reverse stitch cam 34, each needle taking yarn Y in its hook as it descends to the knitting point. After the needles pass the lowest point of stitch cam 34, they are raised by cam 40 4 to tuck level B. The bottom surface, 41 of raising cam 40 holds the intermediate jacks 12 and pattern jacks 14 at the proper level for the jack push-out cam.

As the cylinder rotates further to the right in FIGURE 1, jack push-out cam or finger 54 acts against portion 16 of pattern jacks 14 to pivot the jacks inward at the top and outward at the bottom, with respect to the needle cylinder, to cause selected butts of jacks 14a to be contacted by the tip of one of the selector fingers 48-51. The selected finger is swung horizontally into the path of the jack butts by operation of the selector drum mechanism shown in FIGURE 3 and described hereinafter.

In this embodiment, the butts 17 of jacks 14b are cut, that is, selected butts at a certain level on those jacks are removed, so that those jacks are not contacted by the selected finger. As a result, jacks 14a are pushed back into the needle cylinder to miss cam 44, while jacks 14b rise up cam 44. Needles N above jacks 14a therefore remain at tuck level B, while jacks 14b raise needles N to clear level A as the cylinder completes its reverse stroke. In the embodiment shown, one of the selector fingers 48-51 as well as jack push-out cam 54 are operative only during the reverse stroke, and are withdrawn during the forward stroke of the cylinder (FIGURE 2). After the jacks 14b pass over cam 44 and as the cylinder is turning in the reverse direction, they are pushed back into the cylinder by means of the front guard cam (not shown), which is part of the standard Scott & Williams Model KN Machine, which, is positioned to the right of cam 44 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

On the forward stroke of the cylinder, the needles advance to cam 34 at their selected levels A and B. As the cylinder begins to move in the forward direction, stitch cam 34 is retracted automatically by well known means so as not to engage the needle butts. The cleared needles N are lowered slightly by center cam 32, and then all needles are lowered by stitch cam 30, taking yarn Y in their hooks as they descend. Thus needles -N form knitted stitches while needles N" form tuck loops.

Suitable means for retracting stitch cam 34 away from the needle cylinder, upon commencement of the forward stroke, is illustrated in FIGURE 5. Such means is controlled by a plurality of cams 201 mounted at spaced intervals circumferentially of the usual striper drum 202. Cams 201 are selectively spaced about striper drum 202 so as to ensure the automatic retraction of stitch cam 34 upon the commencement of each forward stroke of the needle cylinder during reciprocatory knitting.

Cams 201 engage a finger 203 mounted on a conventional actuating lever 204 pivotable about fixed shaft 205. Actuating lever 204 mounts a second finger 206 engageable within a slot 208 in a thrust bar 209. The upper end of bar 209 is secured to one arm of a bell crank 210 pivotable about a fixed shaft 212. The second arm of hell crank 210 is afiixed to a link 213 which, in turn, is secured by means of a screw 214 to the stitch cam bracket 215 for stitch cam 34.

It thus will be seen that whenever a earn 201 strikes finger 203, lever 204 is moved in a clockwise direction, about shaft 205, whereby finger 206 elevates thrust bar 209 to cause the retraction of stitch cam bracket 215, together with stitch cam 34, away from the needle cylinder. As soon as a cam 201 disengages from finger 203, spring 217 retracts thrust bar 209, thereby returning stitch cam bracket 21'5 together with stitch cam 34, radially inward toward the needle cylinder to operative position. Cams 201 disengage from finger 203 and permit return of stitch cam 34 to operative position prior to or upon commencement of the reverse stroke of the needle cylinder.

The forward stroke is completed by all needles rising up cam 38 to tuck level. Thereupon the next reverse stroke is commenced with the needles rising to clear level over cam 30. During this stroke needle selection is varied by inserting a different selector finger into action, whereby a different group of needles N" are selected to remain at tuck level while the remaining needles N clear over jack cam 44. Thus, tuck loops may be staggered throughout the fabric. By controlled movements of jack selector fingers 48-51 on succeeding reverse strokes of the cylinder, various tuck loop patterns may be obtained in the fabric. The selection illustrated produces the well known 3 x 1 micromesh pattern with tuck loops in alternate courses only.

The selector drum and associated mechanism for operating the jack push-out cam 54 and the four selectors 48-51, which are referred to herein as auxiliary jack selector means, is shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. Selector drum 60 is rotatably mounted on a fixed vertical shaft 62 supported on the upper bed plate (not shown) of the machine by brackets 64 and 65. Drum 60 is racked by the action of pawl 66 on the teeth of a rack wheel 67 which is rigidly fastened to the bottom of drum 60. Racking pawl 66 receives its reciprocatory movement from lever 70, against the tension of spring '71, through oscillatory motion of hell crank 72 so pivoted as to respond to the upward thrust of rod 74 mounted on the upper bed plate of the machine through block 75. The lower end of rod 74 is positioned in alignment with the rotary travel of two diametrically spaced earns 76 which are fastened to the face of conventional drive gear 80, said gear rotating one full revolution for each full reciprocatory cycle of the needle cylinder.

Jack push-out cam or finger 54 and the pattern jac. selector fingers 48-51 are pivotally mounted on a vertical shaft 61 sustained on the bed plate. All of said fingers 54, 48-51 are biased toward the needle cylinder, and hence toward the pattern jacks 14, about pivot 61, by means of tension springs 111 disposed at the outer ends of the fingers. Fingers 54, 43-51 are provided, between pivot 61 and tension springs 111, with lugs 95-99, respectively. Lugs 95-99, under the influence of the springs 111, engage respectively against the peripheral surfaces of circular drum cams 90-94 mounted in vertically superimposed relation telescopically of drum 60.

Each of the drum cams 90-94 is provided with circumferentially spaced notches 100 adapted to receive the lug of its corresponding finger, under the influence of its spring 111, and thereby permit movement of each finger toward the needle cylinder as the pattern drum is racked. Drum cam 90 is formed with notches equaling in number the total of the notches formed in drum cams 91-94. Drum cams 90-94 are disposed so that the notches of cams 91- 94 are staggered with respect to each other and are in vertical alignment with a different notch in cam 90. It will be noted that no more than one notch of the drums 91-94 is in alignment with any one notch of cam 90.

rum 60 is racked in timed relation to the reciprocation of the needle cylinder so that the lug 95 of arm 54 is engaged within a notch 100 of cam 90 during each reverse stroke of the cylinder. During each forward stroke of the cylinder lug 95 engages a peripheral rise of cam 90 between two adjacent notches. Thus, jack push-out finger 54 is advanced to the needle cylinder by cam 90 during each reverse stroke of the cylinder and is retracted therefrom during each forward stroke.

Due to the location of the notches in the drum cams 91-94, one only of the selector fingers 48-51 will be advanced to the needle cylinder during the reverse stroke thereof, and all of said fingers will be retracted during the forward stroke of the cylinder.

Thus, when lug 95 engages within a notch in cam 90 and the lug 98 of selector finger 50 is engaged within the notch of cam 93, finger 54 is advanced to contact portion 16 of the pattern jacks 14 and selector finger 50 is advanced against the butts of the pattern jacks to push the selected jacks 14a back into the needle cylinder to miss jack cam 44, as previously described.

The inner ends of selectors 48-51 are guided in their 5 horizontal movement by bracket 112. Means for adjusting the extent of inward travel of finger 54 and selector fingers 48-51 is provided by adjusting screws 114 threadedly mounted in bracket 115.

Since the racking of drum 60 is not desired during knitting of the portions of the fabric not calling for reciprocation of the needles, apparatus for disengaging rod 74 from contact with cams 76 is provided by a collar 77, fixedly mounted to the upper end of rod 74, having a protruding flange 78 over-hanging one arm of a bell crank 79. The crank 79 is pivoted to raise collar 77 through the action of Bowden wire 81 connected to the lower end of pawl 82, the upper end of which is subject to engagement with cam 84 mounted on the outer circumferential surface of drum 35. Drum 85 rotates with the conventional pattern shaft. Engagement of the upper end of pawl 82 on cam 84 raises rod 74 out of engagement with cams 7 5, causing the deactivation of selector drum 60. Engagement of pawl 82 in notch 86 of cam 84 causes rod 74 to be lowered for repetitive engagement with the cams 76 and activation of pattern drum 60.

An alternate mechanism for controlling the rotary movement of pattern drum 60, in lieu of the racking mechanism described in the preceding paragraphs, may consist of a positive drive geared to a continuously rotating member of the machine. The positive drive would continually rotate drum 60 at such a rate as to permit proper engagement of lugs 95-99 against the peripheral surfaces of circular drum cams 90-04 so as to withdraw fingers 54 and 48-51 from action during the forward stroke of the cylinder, and to place into action finger 54 and one of the fingers 48-51 during the reverse stroke. The drive mechanism may be equipped with a drive-engaging and disengaging component, such as a clutch, for activating and de-activating the positive drive in portions of the knitting cycle where its operation is not required.

If needle selection is desired on each stroke of the needle cylinder to form tuck loops in each course of the reciprocated fabric, the selection mechanism described above can be duplicated adjacent the forward stitch cam 30. A second jack lifting cam would be positioned proximate stitch cam 30 and a jack push-out cam and needle selectors positioned between the lifting cam and cam 30, so that selection occurs while the cylinder is moving in the forward or counter-clockwise direction. In such case, stitch cam 30 would be retracted upon movement of the cylinder in the reverse direction.

Although only a single yarn feeding finger is shown and described hereinabove, a second yarn finger may be utilized at the same feeding station so that an auxiliary yarn, whether reinforcing or pattern, may be taken by selected needles.

FIGURES 1-4 illustrate specifically the utilization of this invention for knitting the well known 3 x 1 micromesh tuck fabric in the reciprocatorily knit portion of a tubular knit fabric. However, it will be obvious that many types of run-resistant fabrics may be knit utilizing this invention. For example, run-resistant fabrics of the tuck type disclosed in Nebel US. Patent No. 3,157,037, of the float type disclosed in Siegel US. Patent No. 2,022,157, and of the tuck-foat type disclosed in Lochhead US. Patent No. 2,100,861 may be knit by reciprocation in accordance with this invention. FIGURES 6 and 7 show schematically knitting of the run-resistant fabric of Nebel US. Patent No. 3,157,037, with forward stitch cam 220 disposed at a lower level than reverse stitch cam 221, the differential therebetween being indicated at R. FIG- URE 6 shows knitting, during the reverse stroke, of the plain knit, short yarn courses of the Nebel fabric, and FIGURE 7 shows knitting, during the forward stroke, of the tuck loop, long yarn courses thereof.

Similarly, FIGURES 6 and 8 illustrate the knitting of the run-resistant fabric of Siegel US. Patent No. 2,022,157. In FIGURE 8, auxiliary cams 222, 223 are utilized to draw the needles at tuck level down to welt level during the forward stroke, so that those needles do not take yarn as they pass under stitch cam 226. It will be noted that in FIGURE 8 stitch cam 228 is disposed at a lower level than stitch cam 221, the differential being indicated by the letter R.

FIGURE 9 shows means for lowering automatically stitch cam 220 of FIGURES 6-8 upon commencement of reciprocatory knitting. At this time, the usual main timing drum 230 is shogged by conventional means (not shown) in a clockwise direction. As a result, cam 231 is advanced under the lower end of a thrust bar 232 to elevate the same against the force of a spring 233 affixed at one end to frame 234 of the machine. The other end of spring 233 is affixed to a thrust rod 236 secured to the upper end of thrust bar 232. Rod 236 is connected at its upper end to a pivotal lever 237 affixed to rock shaft 239. The inner end of shaft 239 is formed with an arm 24% to which is affixed the stitch cam 220.

Thus, elevation of thrust bar 232 by cam 231 elevates thrust rod 236, causing shaft 239 to move counter-clockwise, to depress stitch cam 220 to a lower operative position. Stop screw 241, aflixed in a finger 242 comprising part of lever 237, limits the extent to which stitch cam 220 may be lowered. Upon completion of reciprocatory knitting, drum 230 once again is shogged in a clockwise direction, whereby cam 231 disengages from under thrust bar 232. As a result, spring 233 retracts the entire mechanism to return stitch cam 220 to its previous, elevated position.

While, in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, there has been illustrated and described herein the best form of embodiment of this invention now known, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the form of the invention described herein, and in the use thereof, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. As will be readily understood, certain features of this invention may be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features thereof.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine having a needle cyliner, a complement of needles and associated needle jacks, apparatus for selecting needles during rotary and reciprocatory knitting of a fabric comprising in combination:

(a) a yarn feeding station mounted adjacent the needle cylinder,

(b) a pair of stitch cams positioned adjacent said feeding station, each stitch cam positioned to alternately draw down all of the active needles to stitch forming level when the cylinder reciprocates, one stitch cam being retractable from its knitting position when previously selected needles move in the direction to be drawn down by the other stitch cam,

(c) main needle selection means angular-1y spaced from a stitch cam, operative for selecting needles during rotary knitting in one direction,

((1) a jack lifting cam positioned between said main selection means and said stitch cam and ((e) auxiliary needle selection means positioned between said stitch cam and the jack lifting cam operative for selecting needles during reciprocatory turns of the cylinder in the opposite direction, according to a predetermined pattern after the needles have drawn loops at said stitch cam and before needles draw loops at the other stitch cam, the selected needles being maintained at a first level while the remaining needles are raised to a higher level.

2. In a method of knitting run-resistant fabric during reciprocatory knitting by a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder with a complement of needles, a yarn feed therefor having a pair of spaced stitch cams, as .sociated therewith, the Steps comprising (a) rotating the cylinder in one direction relative to the yarn feed whereby all active needles take yarn and are drawn down by a first stitch cam to form a course of knitted stitches of a selected loop size,

(b) selecting needles while the cylinder still is rotating to raise some needles to clear level while permitting other needles to be disposed at tuck level, and

(c) counter-rotating the needle cylinder relative to the yarn feed, while retracting said first stitch cam from operable position, whereby the needles take yarn and are drawn down by the second stitch cam to form a second course of spaced tuck loops and intervening knitted stitches,

(d) said intervening knitted stitches being formed of a larger loop size than the knitted stitches of the first mentioned course.

3. In a method of knitting run-resistant fabric during reciprocatory knitting by a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder with a complement of needles, a yarn feed therefor having a pair of spaced stitch cams associated therewith the steps comprising:

(a) rotating the cylinder in one direction relative to the yarn feed whereby all active needles take yarn and are drawn down by a first stitch cam to form a course of knitted stitches of a selected loop size,

(b) selecting needles while the cylinder still is rotating to raise some needles to clear level while permitting other needles to be disposed at tuck level, and

(c) counter-rotating the needle cylinder relative to the yarn feed, while lowering the needles at tuck level to Welt level, whereby the needles at clear level take yarn and are drawn down by the second stitch cam to form a second course of spaced knitted stitches and intervening floats,

(d) said latter knitted stitches being formed of a larger loop size than the knitted stitches of the first mentioned course.

4. In a circular knitting machine for knitting seamless stockings having rotary knit portions and at least one reciprocatorily knit portion therein, said knitting machine having a needle cylinder supported for rotary and reciprocatory movement, needles disposed for vertical movement in the cylinder, a knitting station including first and second stitch earns, a pattern jack positioned below each of said needles and disposed for vertical movement in said cylinder, and primary jack selector means including a jack clearing cam positioned in advance of said knitting station operable to engage said pattern jacks and control their vertical movement in said cylinder and to thereby raise certain of the needles to clear level while permitting the other needles to remain at tuck level during the rotary knit portions of the stockings; the combination therewith of auxiliary pattern control means operable during reciprocatory knitting by an active group of needles to form non-run fabric, said auxiliary pattern control means comprising:

(a) means associated with the first stitch cam for positioning the same in operative position with each swing of the needle cylinder in a first direction to lower needles of the active group to stitch drawing level to form plain stitches in alternate partial courses and for moving said first stitch cam to inoperative position with each swing of the needle cylinder in the opposite direction,

(b) auxiliary jack selector means positioned between said primary jack selector means and the said knitting station, said auxiliary jack selector means being 0perable to engage said pattern jacks and control their vertical movement in said cylinder so that selected needles of the active group are raised to clear level while other needles of the active group are permitted to remain at tuck level so that during each movement of said needle cylinder in said opposite direction a pre-determined pattern of plain stitch loops and tucks is formed in intervening partial courses of said reciproeatorily knit portion (0) and means for selectively changing the vertical position of one of said stitch cams during reciprocation whereby stitches of selectively difierent size are drawn by said stitch carns in said reciprocatorily knit portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 686,956 11/1901 Steber 66-187 2,125,114 7/1938 Kugelman 66-187 2,932,959 4/1960 Getaz 66-48 2,974,506 3/1961 Lawson 66-50 X 3,071,950 1/1963 Chaney 66-54 X 3,124,945 3/ 1964 Moretta 66-50 X FOREIGN PATENTS Germany. Great Britain.

2/ 1961 Italy.

Italy.

WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner. 

